522 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



He perceived the bait, approached, and seized it in 

 his mouth ; but his foot, at the same moment, by a 

 jerk of the rope, being entangled in the noose, he 

 pushed it off with the adjoining paw, and deliberate- 

 ly retired. After having eaten the piece he carried 

 away with him, he returned. The noose, with an- 

 other piece of kreng, being then replaced, he pushed 

 the rope aside, and again walked triumphantly off 

 with the kreng. A third time the noose was laid ; 

 but, excited to caution by the evident observation 

 of the bear, the sailors buried the rope beneath the 

 snow, and laid the bait in a deep hole dug in the 

 centre. The bear once more approached, and the 

 sailors were assured of their success. But bruin, 

 more sagacious than they expected, after snuffing 

 about the place for a few moments, scraped the snow 

 away with his paw, threw the rope aside, and again 

 escaped unhurt with his prize. 



In the month of June 1812, a female bear, with 

 two cubs, approached the ship I commanded, and 

 was shot. The cubs, not attempting to escape, 

 were taken alive. These animals, though at first 

 evidently very unhappy, became at length, in some 

 measure, reconciled to their situation ; and, being 

 tolerably tame, were allowed occasionally to go at 

 large about the deck. While the ship was moored 

 to a floe, a few days after they were taken, one of 

 them, having a rope fastened round its neck, was 

 thrown overboard. It immediately swam to the 



